Wild bluefin tuna breeding in captivity raise hope for species
By Lewis Smith
August 08 2011 Lewis Smith
Bluefin tuna have spawned in captivity for the third year running in Croatia, raising hopes that the endangered fish can be farmed instead of being caught from depleted stocks in the wild.
Fertilised eggs from the spawning were put into an incubator and were successfully hatched, with the larvae being kept for further research.
The spawning took place in cages on the Croatian coast and demonstrated that it can happen naturally in captivity which is essential if the fish are ever to be farmed.
Farmed bluefin tuna is regarded as a holy grail of the aquaculture industry because it is one of the world’s most desirable and expensive fish for the table yet has suffered rapid and damaging declines in the wild because of overfishing.
Prime adult blufin tuna sell for tens of thousands of pounds and earlier this year one weighing 754lbs (342kg) sold for £254,000 (32.49 million yen) at a Japanese market. The previous record was set a decade ago when a 445lbs (202kg) specimen sold for £157,000 (20.2 million yen).
The spawning took place in cages containing 85 mature tuna that were originally taken from the wild and are being kept as brood stock. The cages are at the Kali Tuna facility owned by Umami Sustainable Seafood.
Unami describes the facility as a tuna farm but most bluefin held in cages are wild stock that have been caught and are being held captive to be fattened up for market.
Several attempts have been made by tuna campaigners in the Mediterranean to break open cages to release the fish back into the wild because they regard such "tuna ranching" as unacceptable because it is reliant on taking endangered bluefin from the wild.
However, companies like Umami are convinced that if researchers are able to raise bluefin in tuna through their entire lifecycle the cages could eventually be the saving of the species.
In a statement the company described the spawning as "a major step forward" and Oli Valur Steindorsson, the chairman and chief executive, said: "This event marks a major milestone in our company’s ultimate goal of building a commercially viable closed life cycle bluefin tuna farming operation.
"For three consecutive years at our Croatian facility, we have spawned bluefin tuna in captivity in a natural way. Although we still have a lot of work left to do in achieving our ultimate goal of developing economically viable processes of raising fish from the fry, these results prove that our experience, and our understanding of the species, is paying off.
"I am now more confident than ever that we will be able to dramatically increase the world’s access to this highly valued food source, without any degradation in quality, while, at the same time, decreasing the pressure on the world’s wild populations."
Dawn Purchase, of the Marine Conservation Society, said she welcomed the progress towards bluefin tuna farming which encompasses the fish’s full lifecycle but cautioned that there are other issues that will need to be addressed before it can be considered sustainable.
She pointed out that for every pound of tuna that is produced by ranching, 20 pounds of other fish have to be fed to them.
She added: "There are two nirvanas in the aquaculture world. One is bluefin tuna, the other is the European eel. There are huge commercial drivers to achieve both because they are very valuable economically. If you can farm bluefin tuna you are into a hugely lucrative market."
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3 Responses to "Wild bluefin tuna breeding in captivity raise hope for species"
Kurt Says:
Great News! but now they should also breed the tuna diet - the sardines, anchoves. Intensive fish farming causes overfishing at the base of the foodchain to feed the tuna and salmon..no food left for wild tuna
YES! I love it!!
Kurt Says:
Great News! but now they should also breed the tuna diet - the sardines, anchoves. Intensive fish farming causes overfishing at the base of the foodchain to feed the tuna and salmon..no food left for wild tuna
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